For first timers to both London and Paris, I would highly recommend getting this nifty travelling tool known as the London Pass (or conversely the Paris Pass). For the price of £77, one gets access to all the major tourist spots with special cut-the-queue lines, discounts on various restaurants and services and more importantly, FREE access to the London Tube for three full days! A VERY good deal indeed for those planning on maximizing their visits on limited tour dates.

Upon looking at the London Pass booklet, my cousins and I were stoked to find a special offer for the Blood and Tears Haunted London Walk. For the price of £7.00, we got to go on this highly-rated and recommended walking tour, focusing on the bizarre, creepy and occult-ish elements of this medieval city.

* Having met our guide, Declan McHugh, on the Barbican tube station, we started our one hour and 45 minute walking tour of London's gruesome and freaky history, including areas where Jack the Ripper's victims were found as well as other English oddities.

One cannot go to London and NOT SEE Westminster Abbey! To do so would be a grand disservice to your trip. I mean how can you not experience the most important (and heck, oldest) church in London: site of coronations, burials, memorials, and lookalike to every Citadel in our dreams?! Yeah, I'm a big fan of this place. So big that I purposely and happily went here thrice in the two times that I've visited London!

* Taking the tube to Westminster and getting off Westminster Station, short and sweet!! While I greatly appreciated the presence of English all around (compared to everywhere else in Europe), I must say that I found the Paris Metro to be more navigable compared to the London Tube. Must be because the Metro uses a numbering system (Get off the 6, Hop on the 9) compared to the system of the Tube which uses named lines (Jubilee Line... Jubilee Line.. Wait, what I am doing on the Metropolitan Line?!)

Across the river from the London Eye stands Westminster, England's political and religious center. Since the 11th Century, Westminster has proudly been the center of power for the English people from the moment King Canute built his palace here and his successor, Edward the Confessor, founded Westminster Abbey right beside it. On a regular day, expect to see crowds of civil servants and tourists coexisting in this tiny yet hallowed area.

* Taken from Parliament Square is this shot of Parliament on the right and the Norman Shaw Buildings, the original site of the famous Scotland Yard synonymous with Sherlock Holmes and detective work, on the left.

The Writer

In 2011, a 26 year old millennial based in Manila, Philippines had a paradigm shift on his views on life, love, and faith. He then decided to set things right by embarking on a journey; one that would take him along the ancient streets of Jerusalem, the magical islands of Greece, the catacombs of Paris, and the heart of the Red Square in Moscow, among other cool and interesting locales. Follow Dane on his continuing six year long trek around the world!